To the OP I'd say try out packing your smaller sack with your list of kit for a longer trip and see what would need to go on the outside. If that works you'll have your answer about selling the bigger pack.
Strapping kit to a rucksack?
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The Karrimor SF Sabre 45 isn't constructed to strap equipment outside. Apart from climbing equipment or a roll mat perhaps.
The German army mountain rucksack for example is constructed to put a large sleeping bag on top of it and a poncho under the flap. Large flap with D-rings on it in the right places.
The Sabre 45 is meant approximately as I described it above. It's everything else than a pack frame.
The German army mountain rucksack for example is constructed to put a large sleeping bag on top of it and a poncho under the flap. Large flap with D-rings on it in the right places.
The Sabre 45 is meant approximately as I described it above. It's everything else than a pack frame.
One of my past occupations was mule packing. The pack saddles most often have two panniers hung on each side and possibly a center bag. Over this a manty ( from Spanish mantilla) aka canvas cover was secured with various spider hitches. At most, a two man crosscut saw was tied off in a old firehouse scabbard to clear trail.
Anything outside had a proclivity to disappear unseen with up to a dozen long ears. I even watched a C Sharps 45-120 half out UNDER its owners leg until someone noticed it.
Cups? Those affectation Kuksa things? Mine is a Minton tea cup circa 1930. Keeping it intact tests my packing skill. Wood is so philistine.
Anything outside had a proclivity to disappear unseen with up to a dozen long ears. I even watched a C Sharps 45-120 half out UNDER its owners leg until someone noticed it.
Cups? Those affectation Kuksa things? Mine is a Minton tea cup circa 1930. Keeping it intact tests my packing skill. Wood is so philistine.
Some 7 years ago we saw the ultimate outside packer in Lapland, a middle aged lady with her pack govered with hanging things. I don't know if she had much anything in the pack itself.
Her pack was about as badly adjusted as possible, hanging away from her back and she was leaning forward to compensate.
She was walking with Crocks, woolen socks though but in 10 cm of water on a boggy fellside.
The most incredible sight, by that time she must have covered about 50 klicks. I did not dare to take a pick.
I usually have my mat and sleeping bag outside (in a water tight bag) and boots of course, they are a pain to pack and fasten
Her pack was about as badly adjusted as possible, hanging away from her back and she was leaning forward to compensate.
She was walking with Crocks, woolen socks though but in 10 cm of water on a boggy fellside.
The most incredible sight, by that time she must have covered about 50 klicks. I did not dare to take a pick.
I usually have my mat and sleeping bag outside (in a water tight bag) and boots of course, they are a pain to pack and fasten
Cramming everything into a small pack is fine until you're in freezing conditions, galeforce winds and heavy rain. Personally i would much rather have a slightly oversized pack with a bit of spare space in which things can be easily stuffed with minimal fuss.
I love the idea of a sabre 45 and have toyed with the idea of getting one, but the lack of adjustable back has put me off, as I am tall. But going back to the op, sounds like a sensible approach, but I think I would get the rocket packs.
A 60l pack with straps to flatten it when not fully loaded, some have a system for that. I remember trying 35l packs years ago and there was always some item that took more volume than I had available, I gave up, I think daughter#1 used it in the scouts until she outgrew it.
For an overnighter, your Sabre 45 should be OK for capacity. If you feel the need for extra capacity, the side pockets for it are really good: they attach securely and you can, as Paul Kirtley has demonstrated, carry a weeks food in one, leaving you room for 'luxuries' in the main pack.
Having been brought up in the Alpine climbing tradition, I tend to keep the pack 'clean' and have nothing dangling from it but occasionally, my mat and pair of Crocs can be seen on the outside of it on longer trips...
In the States, there are some who buy a rucksack frame and then attach a series of dry bags to it. This can give greater flexibility to your requirements and carrying but, to my mind, there's a lot more to go wrong, get wet, lose or forget with it! Still, horses for courses!
Having been brought up in the Alpine climbing tradition, I tend to keep the pack 'clean' and have nothing dangling from it but occasionally, my mat and pair of Crocs can be seen on the outside of it on longer trips...
In the States, there are some who buy a rucksack frame and then attach a series of dry bags to it. This can give greater flexibility to your requirements and carrying but, to my mind, there's a lot more to go wrong, get wet, lose or forget with it! Still, horses for courses!
I read it as the OP wants to reduce kit and not buy more, but I don't see how that can be achieved without compromise. His needs, aiui, is about mostly having need for the 45l sack but still hoping to get out for longer trips which it's not quite big enough for. Compromise options include keeping both, selling the bigger to leave just the 45l sack or sell both and use the money to get something in between. There are others such at only the smaller pack but get those larger pockets for more kit trips. Or reduce the volume, and weight, of your kit so it fits into the smaller sack even for longer trips.
I have a couple of 50l sacks that can expand a bit but they can all swallow what I have and need for a week and even longer. For me the base kit for a weekend and for a week is not significantly different. It's the consumables that increased my need for space. Bear in mind I did a weekender using a 20l alpkit Gourdon with only a meths bottle and a water bottle in the outside mesh pockets. I think my base load of sack, bag, mat, shelter, waterproofs, warm layer and stove was not much more than 3kg IIRC. Pack size was, well 20l with food.
Needless to say my longer trip kit I could probably easily carry with the OPs smaller sack. Even with a decent amount of food being carried. So perhaps sack choice might be best changed to kit choice? That could become expensive though!
I have a couple of 50l sacks that can expand a bit but they can all swallow what I have and need for a week and even longer. For me the base kit for a weekend and for a week is not significantly different. It's the consumables that increased my need for space. Bear in mind I did a weekender using a 20l alpkit Gourdon with only a meths bottle and a water bottle in the outside mesh pockets. I think my base load of sack, bag, mat, shelter, waterproofs, warm layer and stove was not much more than 3kg IIRC. Pack size was, well 20l with food.
Needless to say my longer trip kit I could probably easily carry with the OPs smaller sack. Even with a decent amount of food being carried. So perhaps sack choice might be best changed to kit choice? That could become expensive though!
I think that's about right.
I just can't imagine what anyone would need that 90L pack for. Well, not in a temperate climate.
45L will do easily for a night out, maybe 2 or 3. With the addition of those side pouches you can expand if needed.
But a 90L pack? On it's own that weighs a ton. Fill it up and...well, do you really want to be lugging that around for pleasure? The thought of that gives me shudders.
If I was the OP I'd sell on the 90L pack and, as someone suggested above, adapt your kit to get in the 45L (plus side pouches, when needed). The side pouches allow you to keep things modular - attach when needed, take off when not.
Thanks for chipping in everybody. Much food for thought. Actually some of the responses were very interesting. For instance, I can easily fill a 90 ltr ruck sack with my sleep system and cooking stuff/ scoff But I accept that is because I like to be warm, comfy and well fed when I camp and my bouncing bomb sleeping bag fills most of the central body of either ruck sack if I am out in early spring or late autumn. So I could look at this at bit more.
Also I use a haven XL for my shelter which takes up a fair bit of room.
I think the point about rocket packs is a good one. I didn’t want to buy them but it’s probably the wisest route If I get rid of the leaf cutter.
Also I use a haven XL for my shelter which takes up a fair bit of room.
I think the point about rocket packs is a good one. I didn’t want to buy them but it’s probably the wisest route If I get rid of the leaf cutter.
Just to add a little more grist to the mill, I walked along the Offa's Dyke footpath, an eleven-day backpacking jaunt, using the Sabre 45 + pockets. It worked brilliantly, allowing me to carry everything I needed and nothing I didn't. It was in summer but it proved the versatility of the pack and the redundancy of some of the behemoths out there. In the interests of transparency, I have to admit that I have 'retired' my Sabre and now use a Savotta Jaakari L in its stead - another superb, similarly-sized pack with a rather better harness.
Looking at Mr Mears's site, it seems that his Leafcutter pack doesn't even have side compression straps which, to my mind at least, are something of an essential in a pack of that size. But then, that's just me...
Looking at Mr Mears's site, it seems that his Leafcutter pack doesn't even have side compression straps which, to my mind at least, are something of an essential in a pack of that size. But then, that's just me...
In fairness to the leaf cutter it’s quite a good bag, very light and very well made but it was expensive (well I think so anyway) and I uhhmmed and aahhed over for it ages but with hindsight there is no doubt that the sabre (with rocket packs) is a time proven model. I should have paid more attention at the time.
It’s something that came up as a discussion once with a technical advisor who also runs ML. But I’ve never known anyone attend a summer ML assessment with anything hanging off their pack either…
The rope should definitely be kept hidden and safe in your rucksack. A walking rope is strictly only to be used in an emergency.
@TLM You are correct, Ice axes skis and snowshoes I believe are acceptable.
When I first got big enough to go "camping" beyond the garden, strapping things to your rucksack was almost an essential. In some respects, because the kit was physically more bulky but also, there was a degree of fashion to it. In the early Eighties, My hand-me-down, bright orange Cobmaster external frame rucksack perennially had my Bundeswher surplus sleeping bag (with arms) on the bottom of the frame and my equally orange Millets tent (were they "Citizen" branded?) Strapped to the top, wrapped in binliners. This was kind of essential, as the pack couldn't contain them, as well as a couple of pairs of jeans, a wooly-pully, a pilot jacket and a dozen tins of beans, soup and steak & kidney pudding. The enamel plated mug and coffee pot that hung from the closure straps however were pure fashion, they showed I was an outdoorsman, or so I thought!
Much later, I can recall stopping at an outdoor shop for some Mountain House and the sales guy almost having apoplexy because I'd attached side pouches to a Lowe Alpine Crossbow pack. The Crossbow was supposed to be a piece of sleek mountain kit, and as Broc stated earlier the cognoscenti disapproved of attachments!
These days, it's that almost ubiquitous Sabre 45, with the hatchet (a modded Cold Steel Rifleman's Hawk) and the khukuri (KHHI Gurkha 3rd Issue, with a KHHI modded sheath and custom karda/chakmak) still living outside. In the case of the hatchet, practicality, it's on a lengthened helve. The Khukuri? Show. I'm a big kid still.
Much later, I can recall stopping at an outdoor shop for some Mountain House and the sales guy almost having apoplexy because I'd attached side pouches to a Lowe Alpine Crossbow pack. The Crossbow was supposed to be a piece of sleek mountain kit, and as Broc stated earlier the cognoscenti disapproved of attachments!
These days, it's that almost ubiquitous Sabre 45, with the hatchet (a modded Cold Steel Rifleman's Hawk) and the khukuri (KHHI Gurkha 3rd Issue, with a KHHI modded sheath and custom karda/chakmak) still living outside. In the case of the hatchet, practicality, it's on a lengthened helve. The Khukuri? Show. I'm a big kid still.
This would have been about 1983 at the tender age of 13. It's long gone now, was nicked at a scooter rally IIRC.
Photo from the web.
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